Oct. 31, 2003

Winston-Salem, N.C. - The North Carolina Men's and Women's Cross Country team will head to Winston-Salem, N.C. on Saturday for the ACC Championships. The men's championship will begin at 10 a.m., while the women's race is at 11 a.m.

For the women, senior Shalane Flanagan will look to become the first woman in ACC history to win four straight ACC cross country championships. Flanagan has run in two meets so far this season and won both of the races, the Great American and the NCAA Pre-Nationals.

Flanagan isn't the only star runner on the women's team, as sophomore Carol Henry and junior Erin Donohue have been near or atop the leaderboard in all of their races. Henry finished second at the UNC Challenge meet, third at the Great American and fourth at the Pre-Nationals. Donohue won the UNC Challenge meet, placed fourth at the Great American and seventh at the Pre-Nationals.

The other five runners for UNC at the ACC Championships will be freshmen Megan Kaltenbach, Meghan Owen and Kristin Stroupe as well as junior Jennie Sucher and sophomore Jessica Perry. Junior Alice Schmidt will not compete due to injury. Carolina will try to defeat the high ranking N.C. State squad, as the Wolfpack won the ACC Championships last season.

"The women's race is going to be exciting," said UNC cross country coach Michael Whittlesey. "There are three highly ranked teams there in N.C. State, Wake Forest and us. We are going to have to be ready and very focused. It is just going to come down to a matter of wills."

In the men's race, the Tar Heels will be led by junior Brian McGovern. McGovern won the UNC Challenge and was the top UNC finisher at the Pre-Nationals. McGovern placed 13th at last year's ACC Championships. The men's team is coming off a first-place finish at the NC Collegiates Meet as they head for the ACC Championships. Sophomore Pablo Durana and junior Matt Daly placed third and fourth respectively in that race. The other five runners for the Carolina men at the ACC Championships will be junior Matt Sciandra, seniors Robert Borbet and Scott Price, junior Jesse Rappole and sophomore Rob Robertson.

"This is the most excited I have been about the men's team at North Carolina since I got here," said Whittlesey. "The ACC is very strong and deep with 5 to 6 good teams. We need to focus on the execution and I am excited to see how we perform and how we execute.